ELR Citation: 41 ELR 20060
No(s). 10-1022 (D.C. Cir. Dec 21, 2010)

The D.C. Circuit vacated an NRC decision in which it refused to consider the value of a company's "goodwill" in determining whether the company was exempt from certain financial requirements necessary for the decommissioning of a uranium processing plant. In 2007 and 2008, the NRC granted the company's requests for exemptions from the regulatory requirement that licensees have a tangible net worth at least 10 times the current decommissioning cost estimate of its licensed facility. In each instance, the NRC justified the exemption by considering the value of the company's goodwill, an intangible asset. Yet the NRC denied a third exemption request in 2009 without considering the value of goodwill. NRC's failure to provide a reasoned explanation was arbitrary and capricious. The fact that the company's tangible net worth declined does not necessarily provide a reasonable basis to distinguish the 2009 decision because the company's tangible net worth was declining when it granted the 2007 and 2008 exemptions. Nor can the fact that the company had a negative tangible net worth in 2009 serve as the apparent basis for the denial because its 2008 tangible net worth was also negative.